A Cowboy in Disguise (10 page)

She slid her slender arm around his hard, muscular one, allowing herself to be escorted to the door. Rio Safari had literally rolled out a red carpet for their guests.

“I feel like a movie star arriving at a premiere,” Alexandra said.

Crystal chandeliers and champagne flutes sparkled around the room. A band on the other side of the ballroom played a waltz and couples dressed elegantly all swayed in a mix of colors around the floor. A full bar and several exquisitely decorated tables full of hors d’oeuvres and ice sculptures lined an entire wall.

“Should we split up and mingle?” Alexandra asked. “Or should we stick together for a while?” She turned to Scott, who nodded to show her that David had already almost disappeared in the crowd.

•

Scott was simply awestruck. Her hair, full of shining reds and browns, was piled loosely high up on her head with elegant little tendrils escaping down around her neck. She’d used smoky eye shadow and burgundy lipstick for the evening, and they transformed her normally striking features into something sensual.

And that dress—he couldn’t take his eyes off the way the dark copper velvet flowed down her body or the way a graceful slit in the fabric opened to expose one leg.

He breathed in the familiar, lush scent of her perfume oil. “I’m for staying together as long as possible.” The soft lighting glowed across the creamy skin of her throat and he had to force away the desire to bend down and softly kiss her neck.

As he gazed at Alexandra, something caught his attention from across the room and he sighed reluctantly. “Get ready,” he warned. “Brace yourself. This isn’t going to be pretty.”

That little vertical stress line appeared on Alexandra’s forehead and didn’t fade when she saw the object of Scott’s attention.

Weaving through the crowd toward them, a woman waved her arm high and shouted, “Scott, darling. Is that you?”

The woman’s hair was such a pale shade of blond that it was almost white. It was pulled starkly back from her face, a style that served to accentuate her catlike eyes, tiny nose and full red lips. Her royal blue gown plunged deeply in the front, showcasing a stunning diamond necklace and ample curves.

She embraced Scott with enthusiasm, pulled him away from Alexandra, and kissed him on both cheeks.

He pulled back quickly from the woman’s embrace and with his arm reaching around Alexandra’s back, just as quickly pulled her back to his side.

“Alexandra, I’d like you to meet Mackenzie Stevens, CEO of Rio Safari.”

Mac Stevens looked Alexandra up and down and her icy blue eyes narrowed.

“Alexandra Hunter,” she said, “it’s certainly interesting to see you in person.” She hadn’t missed the turning heads of every male in the room when Alexandra walked through the door. In fact, she had only noticed Scott standing there when she’d turned to see what the stir was about.

Mac gave a cold little laugh and turned her back to Alexandra. “Scott, darling. I’ll talk with you later. I simply must go greet someone important right now.”

Alexandra took Scott’s arm again, more tightly than necessary. “Your Mackenzie is Mac Stevens? The woman you almost proposed to?
Her
?”

Scott noticed the confusion in Alexandra’s eyes. “I tried to tell you Alex, remember?” he said gently. “I know how you must feel. I felt the same way when I found out exactly who Duncan had been to you. Remember?”

Alexandra felt a ridiculous show of disappointment and jealousy threaten to find its way to her expression. She silently chastised herself. Hers was certainly a silly, emotional reaction for someone allegedly unwilling to explore any romantic feelings for Scott. For two years that frozen, blond viper had been part of Scott’s life, and from the looks of things, she’d like to be again. She cringed at the thought of Scott touching another woman.

“Random question. What’s going through your head right now?”

“I’m
fine
,” she lied obviously. “But I think we should mingle now.” She moved just out of Scott’s reach, his fingers sliding from around her waist as she walked away. She gave him a tight little smile.

“You’re
jealous
!” He laughed in shock.

Scott watched as Alexandra made her way through the crowd, stopping to greet Mike from
Zellez
and then talking with another couple he didn’t recognize. The light from the chandeliers flickered against the warm tones of her hair and set off the soft cream color of her skin. She was amazing to watch in action. Scott couldn’t have mingled if he tried. He was completely captivated and wasn’t sure if his legs could even move.

Scott watched as Alexandra sank farther into the crowd and then finally followed her while he still had the chance. She wasn’t going to dismiss him that easily even though he suspected, all business excused aside, she was just protecting herself from another broken heart. He’d never seen someone so guarded. Then he looked up and saw Duncan, pompous thing that he was, slowly approaching her like a poisonous animal stalking its prey. He was just waiting to spoil her evening one way or another, waiting to assault her before she even noticed he was there.

•

Alexandra had draped herself in her most poised and self-assured façade. She knew no other way to get through the evening without thinking of the jealousy that just blindsided her. She knew Scott had tried to tell her about his relationship with Mac Stevens and she’d brushed his explanations aside thinking it couldn’t matter. And now suddenly it did matter.

The Alexandra of a month ago would have called it an advantage to have the potential client enamored of someone on her team. But now Alexandra found it irritating. So this was the connection he had with the CEO of Rio Safari. What was the plan anyway? To seduce a contract out of Mac Stevens?

As Alexandra stepped by him in her bedazzled satin heels, Scott caught up to her, reached out and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back to him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she whispered in disbelief. She smiled brightly while looking around to see who around them had noticed.

“I’m taking you out to the dance floor.” He smiled a little too brightly at her as they moved with the music. “Thought we’d give this dancing thing a whirl.”

“You know, dancing with your presentation partner isn’t part of the job description,” she said.

“I’d call it more of a fringe benefit.”

The orchestra played slowly and their bodies swayed together in a sensual rhythm. This was torment, she thought, and started to question the wisdom of ever showing him that invitation in the first place.

She tried her best to steel herself against the warm, flowing sensations Scott’s body near hers created. The soft glow from the chandeliers overhead did nothing to lessen the effect of his gaze. Why couldn’t he be some tall, dark stranger she had met just this night? She could run away with him and do things only other women dared to do. Things she never dared to do herself.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Scott whispered into her ear.

Alexandra lifted an eyebrow. “You think my thoughts come that cheap?”

He held her hand tightly and spun her around with flair. “I think you’re priceless.”

Alexandra looked away from his face. The top of her head level was with his broad chest, but the view there wasn’t any safer. “It’s not going to do any good for business if we only spend time together tonight. We can cover twice as much ground if we split up, you know.”

When the music finally ended, they stopped dancing and simply stood together on the dance floor surrounded by other couples. The attraction between them was almost tangible. Alexandra’s heart pounded wildly. She had to get far, far from him before she gave herself and her feelings away and threw her arms around him right in the middle of the dance floor.

“Time to mingle,” she said suddenly and stepped back from his embrace.

Alexandra lost track of Scott in the room. There were simply too many guests dancing and talking, and she was trying her best not to look for him. She found herself enjoying the evening with half her thoughts lost somewhere with Scott as it was. As she looked from face to face in conversation, part of her imagined the structure of his cheekbones, his inky black eyelashes, the way the corners of his lips curved up. Alexandra was glad for the distraction such a large social gathering had to offer. She barely had time to pop a stuffed mushroom and a shrimp puff into her mouth before someone else asked her to dance. She was glad though—she thought she’d caught a glimpse of Duncan hovering near the hors d’oeuvres and didn’t want to waste a single breath of air talking to him.

She had to give Mac Stevens credit for one thing, though. The woman definitely knew how to put a brilliant guest list together. Inside of an hour, Alexandra had managed to collect the business cards of half the elected officials in the state, not to mention an entire stack of cards from people belonging to one board of directors or another. The night was still young when she managed to grab a glass of water and another shrimp puff, and slip out into the courtyard for a few minutes of fresh air.

•

Scott looked around the room and couldn’t see Alexandra anywhere. He realized they needed to mingle, but he swore she’d spent the evening intentionally avoiding him. He saw her whirling around the ballroom floor first with one partner and then the next. Whenever she would swirl close enough for him to touch, she would just as quickly spin away in a blur of copper light. He had last seen her with a senator who had a reputation worse than his own, except he knew for a fact that the senator had actually earned his.

He didn’t miss the attention Alexandra drew wherever she moved. Men turned their eyes toward her with unveiled appreciation, though she never seemed to take notice. Older women in the room admired her beauty with smiles and the younger ones shot looks of envy in her direction. It was amusing almost, but it also reinforced his opinion of what a remarkable woman Alexandra Hunter was.

Scott hadn’t missed Mac eyeing him from across the room, either. He hated the way she’d greeted him as if nothing wrong had ever passed between them. He hated the way she’d been so blatantly rude to Alexandra. How could he not have seen the money-hungry, shallow woman Mackenzie was bent on becoming, even while they were together? Her character was so obvious to him now. He was pulled from his thoughts by a long, red fingernail running down his biceps.

“Scott, darling. You have no idea how I’ve longed to see you again.” She was the picture of icy beauty with no warmth beneath the surface. Fake. Fake. Fake.

Scott moved away from her touch. How she could feign such friendliness after the last time they’d spoken was beyond him. “I’m only interested in business, Mackenzie. Just business.”

Mac Stevens looked up with a hurt expression that Scott knew from experience she didn’t really feel. “I’ll bet you might have other ideas if you hadn’t arrived with such a distraction on your arm.”

“You really don’t change, do you? Alexandra Hunter and I are business partners working on a presentation for you. It was not my decision.”

Mac smiled coolly. “Oh, I know that. Ms. Hunter’s proposal was excellent. But all that aside, when I heard you’d joined D. W.
Songstram
, too, it was icing on the cake.”

“I don’t like being played with, Mackenzie.”

“Why did you leave me over such trifling matters, Scott? We were such a good team.”

Scott laughed outright. “Trifling? Good? What a joke. You tried to steal the land my father worked his entire life to make something of. I think that alone should be reason enough.”

She put her hand on his arm again. “I miss you, Scott. We really were so good together. Think about it. Think how much time we could spend together if your company gets the contract.”

“We were finished a long time ago, Mackenzie. I don’t care to repeat past mistakes. I was hoping since we know each other, it could be beneficial professionally. That’s all.” How naive had he been? Good together? He barely remembered any of the feelings he’d once felt for her, much less her touch. The mere thought seemed very unappealing now. He thought that curling up with one of those ice sculptures would be warmer.

Mac laughed and touched her flawless forehead to Scott’s arm, all melodrama and image. “Silly, darling. Don’t say things you don’t mean.” She squeezed his biceps and gave a suggestive little noise. “You always have been such a man, haven’t you? So rugged …”

•

Alexandra set her water glass down on a bench just before she noticed Scott standing inside in a darkened corner with Mac Stevens. She looked up in time to see the woman run her hand suggestively down his arm. What was it that Scott has professed in the cabin about understanding betrayal and looking for commitment? Now he stood there having a drink and laughing with his former girlfriend. Mac Stevens had her hands all over him, and he just stood there when he could have walked away at any given moment. Finally the blond wiggled away and Alexandra could see that her blue gown was not only frontless, but backless—cut all the way down to indecency on a body that was obviously well cared for. It was probably the only thing Mac truly loved, now that Alexandra thought of it.